Following their 85-82 win over No. 5-ranked Illinois, the Michigan State Basketball Spartans rank tenth in the nation and third overall in the Big Ten Conference. Three of their four losses on the season come against top-15 opponents with an upcoming tilt at Wisconsin next on their schedule. It will be the Spartans' fifth road game in their last eight overall.
With seven games remaining on their schedule, Tom Izzo and his versatile group can certainly make a late-season run and contend for the Big Ten title. They've looked like a serious threat to Michigan and Illinois at times, but a recent loss to Minnesota showed they still have some maturing to do throughout this season.
While the Spartans will be playing a whole new type of basketball throughout the March Madness tournament, these fatal flaws may hinder their ability to win-out and make a run for the conference title.
The Spartans need to peak at the right time
The greatness of Tom Izzo has always been priming his teams for March and overcoming any adversity throughout the early parts of the season. Over the last few years, the Spartans have played their best basketball through February and into March, giving their coaching staff the ability to make a deep run so long as the Spartans are being responsive. They closed last season with eight wins over their final nine games, so expect a similar run out of them this season.
However, this added pressure only means that the Spartans will have to set the tone for the rest of their season, now. They're still a relatively young team and while senior leaders Carson Cooper and Jaxon Kohler are doing everything they can to lead a consistent attack in the paint, they'll need underclassmen like Kur Teng, Cam Ward, and Jordan Scott to be reliable options from game to game.
Greatly dependent on streaking at the right time, the Spartans run an equal risk stumbling through the rest of their schedule with games at No. 13 Purdue and at No. 2 Michigan, potentially causing a downturn into the tournament.
Michigan State's lack of a spot-up, three-point shooter
Since the days of Matt McQuaid, Kyle Ahrens, and the potential of Joshu Langford, the Spartans haven't been typically known for their three-point shooting. They rank 140th in the nation in three-point percentage (34.8%) and attempt an average of just 21.5 per game, ranking them 244th in the country. They haven't been reliant on their three-point scoring for a few years now and many fans may argue that it's been the razor-thin difference in the Spartans falling short in the Big Ten over recent years.
Forward Jaxon Kohler has served as the team's leading three-point shooter (41) with Kur Teng (33) next on the list, but the Spartans would benefit from Kohler focusing more of his scoring in the paint. The loss of sophomore Divine Ugochukwu also hurts the Spartans as he was beginning to find his role as their corner specialist.
Unless both Kur Teng and Jordan Scott can both become reliable options from beyond the arc by the time the regular season is over, the lack of three-point production could come back to haunt Michigan State as it has in the past. Teams are beginning to double Jeremy Fears Jr. down the stretch in close games, so he would certainly benefit from having spot-up shooters on the wings to kick the ball out to.
